Fragrance material review on 2-(3-methylphenyl) ethanol.

A toxicologic and dermatologic review of 2-(3-methylphenyl) ethanol when used as a fragrance ingredient is presented. 2-(3-Methylphenyl) ethanol is a member of the fragrance structural group Aryl Alkyl Alcohols and is a primary alcohol. The AAAs are a structurally diverse class of fragrance ingredients that includes primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl alcohols covalently bonded to an aryl (Ar) group, which may be either a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring. The common structural element for the AAA fragrance ingredients is an alcohol group -C-(R1)(R2)OH and generically the AAA fragrances can be represented as an Ar-C-(R1)(R2)OH or Ar-Alkyl-C-(R1)(R2)OH group. This review contains a detailed summary of all available toxicology and dermatology papers that are related to this individual fragrance ingredient and is not intended as a stand-alone document. A safety assessment of the entire Aryl Alkyl Alcohols will be published simultaneously with this document; please refer to Belsito et al. (2012) for an overall assessment of the safe use of this material and all other branched chain saturated alcohols in fragrances.